October 8th through October 14th

October 8th through October 14th:  Monday we took the missionaries shopping and then in the afternoon we got ready for a dinner for the presidency and recorders at our house.  We wanted to have a dinner to thank our counselors and the recorders for their service and support the last three years.  We have been blessed to have wonderful counselors who are so devoted to the temple.  President Funes is 80 years old and he and wife have served with us for two and a half years.  President and Sister Flohr both speak Kekchi and have been a blessing to so many.  We gave our counselors pictures of Christ and as a memento of their service.  

President and Sister Funes

President and Sister Flohr.

Tuesday we went over and attended a session and then did our afternoon shift.  

Thanks Sister Jenson for finishing Chris's vest.  Chris started to sew a vest from a huipil, but she said she reached the limit of her ability and patience.  Luckily, Babette came to the rescue.

We made two black pillows from what was leftover after Chris and Babette finished the vest.

We also made one more bird pillowcase.

Wednesday the movers came and packed up everything except what we are going to take home in our suitcases.  We were surprised that we had 37 boxes.  It was a lot more than we thought we had.  I spent the entire day supervising the three men that packed up our shipment.  

Wednesday morning I got everything in the dinning room that we were sending home.

The shippers had to open everything we had packed and repack every box.

They made us take out scissors, knives, anything that was liquid, and anything that had a battery.

We also added to all this my computer, screen and printer.

If they left our stuff in one of the boxes we had used, they had to wrap it in brown paper and list everything on the outside.  They would then shrink wrap the package.

They also had to make boxes for the furniture we shipped.

37 boxes latter our things were loaded and headed off.

Thursday we did the morning shift. We had a group of saints from Chulac with us in the temple.  Two couples came to be sealed.  

One of the couples from Chulac.

Brother Chen, one of our sealers, did a wonderful job doing the sealings in Kekchi.

Here are the adults and a few of the children from Chulac.  They also brought 30 youth.

Lunch with the Thursday morning shift.

After our shift, we had lunch with the morning shift and then went home and cooked and got ready for a dinner with all the mission presidents and their wives, Brother and Sister Alvarado, the new temple president, and Brother and Sister Abadillo, our recorder.  This was to introduce the new temple president to the mission presidents.  It went well and we really thought it was an enjoyable evening.  We also gave all of them pillowcases.  We have had a great relationship with the mission presidents and have so enjoyed being with them in all the conferences.  Friday morning we moved into one of the temple apartments.  That took all morning and then we did the afternoon shift.  Saturday morning we went and had breakfast with the Saturday midday shift and said goodbye.  

Breakfast with the Saturday midday shift.

Click below to listen to
Sister Aracely playing "Placentero nos es trabajar" on the harmonica. 

Here is the English translation of the song.  We don't have this song in our English hymnbook.

In the vineyard of Jesus our King,

Working hard is for us a delight,

And in honor we'll preach and we'll bring

To his people his law and his light.

For his light, for his light,

In the vineyard of Jesus our King,

For his light, for his light,

We will die in his work as we sing.

Listen ye to the word of the Lord,

With the loy'lty and fervor thereof,

And fore'er in your hearts do record

All his purity, truth, and his love.

With his love, with his love,

Listen ye to the word of the Lord.

With his love, with his love,

Take ye hold of the banner of God.

Oh, dear brothers and sisters, farewell,

For the moment to go now impends.

If in God we by faith persevere,

Past the veil we shall still meet again,

Meet again, meet again!

Oh, dear brothers and sisters, farewell!

Meet again, meet again.

With our God in his love we shall dwell.

Click below to listen to her

playing "God be with you till we meet again"

The Saturday midday shift.

Both the songs are kind of sad and are "goodbye songs".  We got a lot of our things put away and then went and did the afternoon shift.  The temple was one of the busiest days we have had.  We got home just before 8:00pm.  We were exhausted from the entire week of activities and saying goodbye each day to a different group of workers.  Sunday we took the Holmans with us to Guastatoya for the Motagua District Conference.  That was the only district conference that I had not attended.  So I was glad that I was able to go and now I can say that I visited all of the 41 units assigned to our temple district.  

The chapel in Guastatoya.

The saints in the Motagua district.

This was an exhausting week with many 12 to 14 hour days.  We are glad that we survived.  The next two weeks won’t be so jam-packed. 

October 1st through October 7th

October 1^st through October 7^th:  Thursday morning we took the Holmans and the Jensons to the national archeology museum.  We also invited Sister Ruano, Maggie, one of the secretaries to go with us.  We enjoyed the many interesting artifacts and carvings.  

Can you say "Brake Lights"

Here is our group ready to go into the museum.

Large carved head about 3 feet tall.

Pottery from burial chambers.

Pottery from Classic Period, 250 to 600 AD

There were a lot of stela depicting kings or warriors.

They know who most of them are and when they lived.

Maybe as many as 50 different monuments.

This courtyard was open above.

This carving was about 3 feet long.

This is a close up of the area in blue from the picture above.  Incredible detail.

The large mural depicting the history of Guatemala has two of our missionaries front and center.

The Smiths, Area Medical Advisor, came over and dropped off some baby blankets and we gave them 2 pillows.  They are also the in-laws of our wonderful art teacher.  

The Smiths

We then went to lunch with President and Sister Hill from the MTC. 

The view was great but the company even better.

Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed general conference.  Between sessions on Sunday the Holmans had us over to lunch and Elder and Sister Johnson were there.  Sister Johnson and Elder Holman are brother and sister in real life.  After dinner, we had the Johnsons over to our house to pick out 2 pillows.  Conference was amazing and so uplifting and inspirational.  I can’t wait to start studying and listening to the talks again and again.  We went over to the Jenson's apartment in the evening for a piece of coconut cream pie.  Delish.

L to R Sister Holman, Elder and Sister Johnson, mom and me.

  

From our morning walk.

A trumpet tree.

We are busy getting ready to have 2 dinners at our house, the pick-up of our shipment for home, and moving to an apartment this week.  We got our letter of release this last week from the First Presidency.  All this makes us realize that our time is short.  

Every shift this next week will be the last time 

we have those shifts.  Saying good-bye 

everyday to a new group of workers will be 

especially difficult.  We have grown to love 

our ordinances workers and we will miss 

them.  

September 24th through September 30th

September 24th through September 30th: Monday we went grocery shopping early and then drove to Antigua.  We first visited the San Francisco church and ruins (From Wikipedia:  When Franciscan missionaries arrived in Guatemala from Spain in 1530 they were assigned 120 villages by the civil authorities.  They were the first to move to the Panchoy Valley in 1541 where they built a church at the site of today's School of Christ (Escuela de Cristo). This chapel was severely damaged in 1565 and during the next ten years donations were collected to build a new sanctuary located two blocks away in 1579. Parts of this construction, maybe the only ones in Antigua which date back to the 16th century, can be appreciated at one side of today's sanctuary. San Francisco el Grande became a significant religious and cultural center for the whole region. Theology, law, philosophy, physics and mathematics were taught at San Buenaventura College, located in today's monastery ruins. The college also favoured painters of the colonial era such as Cristóbal de Villalpando, Thomas de Merlo and Alonzo de la Paz.).  

Elder Jenson stayed home.  In front of the San Francisco church.  

One of the paintings in the church.

The ceiling.

The side door which is about 6 or 7 inches thick.

Some of the ruins of the monastery .

More of the ruins.

Part of the dome at the corner of what is left of the hall around the cloister.

This fresco dates back to the late 1500's.

We then went to the ruins of the convent and church Las Capuchinas.  (From Wikipedia: The Iglesia y Convento de las Capuchinas is a notable convent and church in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. It is one of the finest examples of an 18th-century convent in Guatemala.  It was consecrated in 1736 but like the rest of the city suffered damage during the 1751 and 1773 earthquakes respectively, and was abandoned by order of the Captain General at the time.) We then drove to the Cerro de la Cruz.  ( Hill of the Cross) 

View from the Cerro de la Cruz.  A cloud is covering the top of the volcano Agua.

Selfie time.

We then drove to San Felipe and picked up mom’s jade ring that was being repaired.  Next was lunch and then shopping at Nim Pot and the local artisans market by the bus station.  

Enjoying lunch.

It was a fun and exhausting day.  We finished it off with a pillow party.  We had all of our temple workers come over and pick out a pillow that we had made from all of the huipiles that we have purchased.  

Everyone got to choose a pillow.

Elder Jenson gave us these water color paintings that he painted.  We are so touched by this wonderful gift.  We want to be remembered as this young and good looking.

We worked every morning this last week.  Thursday we got the documents that certify we can take our paintings out of the country.  We think that was the last piece of the puzzle and we should be good to go for the 10^th when they will come and pack up everything we are going to ship home.  

Our paintings can now leave Guatemala.  They are not considered national treasures.

Sunday we left at 7:00am and drove to Amatitlan where we spoke in the sacrament meeting of the Mariposa ward.  

Sunday we gathered after church for a group picture. Left to Right, E. and S. Anderson, us, P. and S. Funes, B. and S. Reyna, E. and S. Holman, B. and S. Davila, B. and S. Solozano, B. and S. Fajardo, P. and S. Flohr and E. and S. Jenson.  It is a great group of people.

Our presidency.

We came straight home and got prepared for our last coordinators training meeting.  We then went to our last “Break the Fast” dinner with all the senior missionaries in the city.  

Sunday Dinner is served.

Break the Fast

We got home about 7:00 pm.  President and Sister Faundez from Coban arrived about 8:00 pm and will stay with us just one night.  We had a busy week and we continue to check things off the list of things we have to do before we leave, like sending in our enrollment in Medicare Part B and getting a visa stamp in mom’s passport so she can leave the country.  This next week we will concentrate on packing our suitcases.  We have to do this before the shippers come so that we know that we have room in our suitcases for what we want to take with us on the plane.  Anything that won’t fit will have to be packed up by the shipping company on the 10^th and then on the 12^th we move to an apartment so that this house can be fixed up for the new president and matron.  Just the other day we had a few months left, now it is only a few weeks.  We have such mixed emotions.  We are excited to go home and learn how to be grandparents and at the same time we know that we will miss this wonderful country and our special friends, missionaries and all the saints.  Can one really be sad and excited at the same time?  We look forward to General Conference next weekend.  We keep hearing rumors that it is going to be exciting. 

September 17th through September 23rd

 September 17^th through September 23^rd: Monday we took our three North American couples grocery shopping.  We also made a stop at the dollar store.  While we were waiting for the Andersons to finish up at the dollar store, we found a community "outhouse" with a double-decker 12 hole potty.  The things that we all find funny are starting to show that we have been away a long time.  

The Holmans and the Jenson sitting on the community outhouse.  Ok, so maybe it was just a planter box.

We had a family home evening and welcomed the Andersons.  We are so glad to have them here.  Elder Mask gave a lesson on the history of the church in Guatemala.  He served as the temple president 6 years ago.  He had a lot of old pictures of some of the first members here.  

Anthon and Dianne Anderson, our new senior missionary couple.

Elder Mask at Family Home Evening.

More of our Family Home Evening group.

Tuesday we went to paint class.  When we got to the temple for our afternoon shift, Brother Carranza told us that he had been to see the cultural minister and he will have to take all our paintings back next week to be photographed and certified so that we can take them out of the country.  

I am feeling better about Luke.  But I am scared to have to finish him without the help of Jill, our art teacher.

So on Wednesday we had to go back to Jill Smith’s to pick up our in-progress paintings and tell her that we have to stop our classes. After next Tuesday, we can’t alter the paintings because they have to be the same as the photographs.  We worked Wednesday afternoon.  Thursday we had presidency meeting and then worked the afternoon shift.  Friday we switched to the morning shift.  Friday evening we went to dinner with President and Sister Hill from the MTC.  

Dinner with the Hills is always a lot of fun.

They will not be able to attend the dinner we are going to have for all the mission presidents, their wives, and the Alvarados, our new temple president and matron next month.  Saturday I got mom up at 2:45 am so she could wash her hair and we could get to the temple by 4:00 am for the morning shift.   The temple was busy and when the temple is busy the shift goes by fast.  Saturday we went and got a card printed to give to friends and workers that indicates our contact information so we can stay in touch with the many people we have come to love and appreciate.  

Mom and I at the temple.  This is the picture we used for the card we had printed.

The card we had printed.

I got to watch the BYU game in the evening.  Sunday we first went to a combined sacrament meeting for the La Leyenda and Villas wards.  A year ago they divided into two wards and this was a meeting to remember and see old friends.  We were asked to speak.  

Mom with new friends at the Leyenda ward.

The chapel is always the nicest building on the street.

After sacrament meeting that had some refreshments for everyone.

We got home and fixed dinner and then we drove 90 minutes to the south to Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa where we spoke at a fireside for all the adults in that district.  

The Primary children in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa were having a choir practice.

It took us just over 2 hours to get home in a rain storm.  There is always a lot of traffic coming back into the city from the coast.  We stayed very busy this last week trying to get things ready to go home.  We got my passport certified by an attorney, Brother Carranza has everything under control for our paintings, and we found my National Identity Number.  We don’t know what else will come up, but we are ready to press forward with the paper work. We have just 5 weeks left and it seems that it is going even faster than before, if that could be possible.  Our blessings are many and we are so thankful for the wonderful memories we will take home of this sacred time spent serving in the House of the Lord.